Casket or vault construction



April 12, 1955 J. l., HALLEY 2,705,828

GASKET OR VAULT CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 4, 1952 Flan? United StatesPatent O CASKET R VAULT CNSTRUCTION James Leo Halley, San Francisco,Calif.

Application August 4, 1952, Serial No. 382,583

1 Claim. (Cl. 27-35) This invention relates to a receptacle forcontaining a human corpse and particularly to improvements in such areceptacle.

It is conventional practice when burying a human corpse to place thesame within a receptacle such as a casket or a vault, which whenproperly closed is not only impervious to the passage of liquid throughthe walls thereof, but is also substantially hermetically sealed. Sincethe human corpse is approximately 85% water or liquid, and this amountis further augmented by a quantity of embalming fluid, it is evidentthat during decomposition of the body a large quantity of liquid isreleased therefrom but is trapped Within the receptacle. Needless tosay, the contents of the casket after partial decomposition, with theresult of the release of fluid, is in an extreme state of putridity, theliquid decidedly augmenting and prolonging the fetidness of thecontents. Therefore, when it is necessary to disinter the body, thepersons performing the operation find the contents so offensive to sightand to their olfactory nerves, that their work, which is notparticularly pleasant in any event, is rendered unnecessarily repulsiveand repugnant, and the Workers frequently become nauseated.

It is the main object of the present invention to provide a receptacle,such as a casket or a vault, wherein a drainage system is provided fordraining the liquid contents from the receptacle so that when it isnecessary to disinter the body, the contents of the receptacle will bein a much less oiensive condition to both the sight and olfactory nervesof the person or persons performing the disintering operation.

A more particular object of the present invention is to provide anarrangement as above described wherein there is provided a septic tankfor receiving the discharged liquid from the receptacle, said tank beingprovided with a valve operable to prevent reverse ow of liquid from thetank upwardly into the casket or vault such as might occur with a risingwater table.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an arrangementas above described wherein there is included a conduit communicating atits lower end with the receptacle adjacent the drain outlet, and havingits upper end capped and disposed at approximately ground level. Thisconstruction enables the upper end of the conduit to be uncapped and anodor test of the receptacle taken to determine the state ofdecomposition of the body, and permits blocking of the outlet, when thebody has obtained a predetermined state of decomposition, by pouring asettable material, such as cement, down the conduit and into the drainoutlet.

Various other objects of the present invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

. Fig. l is a side View in elevation, partly in section, of anarrangement embodying the concepts of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the septic tank.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of the arrangement showing thedrain outlet as having been blocked.

Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein similar referencecharacters designate similar parts throughout, Fig. 1 shows a receptaclefor a human corpse, said receptacle being either a casket or a vault orsimilar case generally entitled 9. The receptacle is of the type havingwalls impervious to the passage of water and which receptacle ishermetically sealed after the corpse has been placed therein. Inaccordance with conventional practice, the receptacle is placed in thesoil beneath the ground level. Also disposed beneath the ground leveland below receptacle 9 is a septic tank 11 connected by a conduit 13 tothe receptacle so as to be in communication therewith. The upper end ofconduit 13 forms a drain outlet from the receptacle and preferablyextends above the oor of the receptacle and/or is provided with a screento prevent clogging of the conduit by loose solid or semisolid matterwithin the receptacle.

Septic tank 11 is of conventional construction, being opened at thebottom and partially iilled with granular material 15. As the bodywithin the receptacle decomposes, liquid is released and is dischargedthrough conduit 13 into the septic tank and through the granularmaterial into the soil.

In order to prevent an upward flow of liquid through conduit 13, such asmight be caused by a rising water table during a rainy spell, a ballfloat mechanism 17 is provided and mounted on the lower end of conduit13 for closing the same during a contingency such as above mentioned.The valve mechanism includes a slide valve 19 adapted to be forced tothe left as the parts are depicted in Fig. 2 when the water level withinthe septic tank rises close to the top thereof to close a passage 21provided in a valve body 23 (which passage forms a continuation ofconduit 13).

It is desirable, after the liquid contents in the receptacle have beendrained therefrom, i. e., after substantially complete decomposition ofthe body, to close 0E and seal the drain outlet of the receptacle. Inorder to perform this operation, it is necessary to determine the stateof decomposition of the body. In the present invention, a conduit 25 isprovided and connected at its lower end to conduit 13 at a place closeto the drain outlet from the receptacle 9, and extends upwardly into awell 27. The upper end of conduit 25 is closed by a cap 29. Byperiodically removing the cap, odor tests can be taken, said testsgiving an indication of the state of decomposition of the body and thusthe degree of liquid remaining in the receptacle. When it is determinedthat the body has become substantially completely decomposed, a quantityof cement or equivalent settable material can be poured down conduit 25to dispose the same in the drain outlet. the drain outlet is permanentlysealed. Since all the liquid contents have been discharged from thereceptacle, the sealing operation will not cause said contents to becomerepulsive and offensive to sight and smell as would occur if liquid weretrapped in the receptacle.

By the present invention a casket or vault construction has beenprovided which insures that the liquid contents of the vault or casketwill be discharged therefrom, and enables the casket or vault to bepermanently sealed after the complete discharge of the liquid.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention, it is to beunderstood that various changes may be made in its construction by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention asdefined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

A device of the class described comprising: a hermetically sealedreceptacle for containing a human corpse and being disposed in the soilbeneath the ground level thereof; said receptacle having a conduitconnected at one end with the lower portion thereof, said conduitextending downwardly below the lower portion of said receptacle and thenupwardly to approximately the ground level; the lower end of saidconduit being provided with a drain and said conduit being arranged sothat it can be sealed olf at its lower end by the introductiondof asettable material through the upper end of said con uit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,108,011 Shone Aug. 18, 1914 1,174,867 Jenkins Mar. 7, 1916 1,242,344Gorman A Oct. 9, 1917 1,986,931 Krehbiel Ian. 8, 1935 2,584,423 CollisonFeb. 5, 1952 When the material hardens or setsy

